Twenty months into the COVID-19 crisis, it’s easy to assume we’ve adapted to a profoundly changed world. Masking up for a trip into the grocery store or on the bus has started to feel like second nature. Zoom is what it is. And many businesses and organizations have found ways forward — including colleges and universities.
But the students served by those institutions? Many of them are really struggling.
“I think the pandemic has been particularly hard on that age group, and I don’t think people talk about it enough,” said Washington University’s Dr. Jessi Gold, a psychiatrist who has many clients ages 18 to 30. “I think if you look at the data, even from early 2020, they were the age group most affected in terms of starting substances, suicidal thoughts, post-traumatic stress.” She added that she’s observed “a lot of anxiety, a lot of depression, a lot of loneliness.”
